Accumulation of Wealth
Ecclesiastes 2:18-26
So far in Ecclesiastes Solomon has let us know that meaning is not in pleasures. Meaning is not found in worldly wisdom. So not we are going to look at if meaning is found in accumulation of massive wealth.
There are some things money can do and some things money cannot do. When I lived just near the equator I would say, money can’t solve all your problems, but it can solve the heat problem. You are comfortable when you blast the air conditioner in every room, but you must pay a high electricity bill. I once bought my son a shirt that said, “with great power comes great electricity bill.”
There is a saying attributed to the Wall Street Journal that say, "Money is an article which may be used as a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, and as a universal provider of everything except happiness."
People try to find meaning in accumulating wealth. It is a trap that is common to get caught up in. It is sometimes referred to as the golden handcuffs. In other words our work to accumulate wealth can turn into a bondage and a ball and chain that will never bring ultimate meaning.
3 reasons for vanity in wealth.
You can’t keep it.
I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. (Ecclesiastes 2:18)
The man who wrote these words was by many accounts considered the wealthiest man in all of history. He was a trillionaire by todays standards. https://wealthresult.com/wealth/richest-people-history
He not only held the most wealth, but he was faced with passing on more wealth than any person that ever lived. He knew he would ultimately leave everything to someone else. He hated the thought of passing on all his wealth to others. Even his own family. He knew he would ultimately leave everything to someone else.
We can’t take money with us to heaven. You leave this earth the same way you came into this earth, with nothing. Rich and poor people alike come into this world and leave this world the same way. Everyone leaves without taking any financial wealth with them.
Think of Jesus words, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6: 19-21)
There is no meaning in accumulating wealth because in is misfocussed. Jesus not only tells us that we are not going to find meaning in accumulating wealth he points us to the kingdom. If we are going to talk about spiritual riches as wealth, then yes. This is where the meaning is. This is where our hearts should be.
We have no control over what we leave behind
19 And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless. 20 So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. 21 For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. (Ecclesiastes 2:19-21)
We might leave our money to someone who might waste it. You might write your last will and testament in such a way that it could not be wasted. I am aware of someone who left their estate with stipulations that the property could not be developed for one hundred years. There is no certainty this stipulation will continue much past the death of the estate holder.
Solomon turned to despair. Let’s just consider what did happen after Solomon’s death. Take his son Rehoboam. (1 Kings 11:41-1224) (1 Chronicles 12) To avoid invasion Rehoboam plundered the temple Solomon built. He used the gold to pay the Egyptian army. He pillaged Solomon’s temple and replaced the shields of gold with shields of brass.
If you have seen some movie where the rich estate owner dies and when his will is read chaos breaks out. It is the story of a man toiling his whole life to amass wealth and then as soon as he dies it divides his family. This is not just in the movies. It happens all too often that feuds break out over the money.
Producing fortunes makes for anxious striving.
22 What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? 23 All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 2:22-23)
Let’s add in a Mark Twain quote here. If you work hard eight hours a day and you are very fruitful, you will get a promotion and work twelve hours a day.
Solomon says there is no rest from anxiety even at night the mind does not rest. Most people who are driven to accumulate wealth have When trouble when it comes to really unplug and relax.
When Henry Rockefeller was at his peak of wealth, he was earning nearly one million dollars a week. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company and remember the top ten list I referred to above, Solomon was number one and Rockefeller number two. His doctors would only allow him to eat so little that even a poor person would eat better than him He was the richest living man in the world but he couldn’t even enjoy his food.
Solomon’s conclusion, eat, drink and be merry.
24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? 26 To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. (Ecclesiastes 2:24-26)
Humanly there is no meaning in chasing wealth. You might as well just eat, drink and be merry. Be grateful for what you do have. If you enjoy what you do have and you experience contentment, then this is from God.
This idea that if I had a little bit more I would be happy is a trap. Ecclesiastes was read at the Feast of Tabernacles to thank God for his provision. God must be at the center of your life. Those without God will never find meaning in their edeavors.
It is not enough to poses wealth without contentment. With Christ we have peace and contentment. We have what Jesus said treasure in heaven. So money can buy so much, but not peace with God. That comes by faith in Jesus Christ who died the just for the unjust to bring us to God.
Those who give their lives to accumulating money become sidetracked from life’s most important pursuits. When you bring God in the picture everything changes. The key is to keep this perspective and never lose it. If you lose this perspective, you are chasing after the wind.
When in your life your life abiding in Christ you have the abundant life. You have found true meaning.
